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Free Vacation Glitch

I've been playing with the same saved game on The Sims 3 for ages. I've gone through 2 generations of this family, and a few weeks ago, the divorced mother went on one of those stupid free vacations... Except she never actually left. She was still playable and her teenage daughter was still home, but the teenager couldn't call or text her because her character bubble was like it is when they're away on vacation.

My problem now is that the daughter is a young adult and I really want to put her into university, but I can't because it tells me that the adults are away on vacation! I even tried moving her out, but it still didn't help anything.

Has anyone else had this problem? And do you have any solutions to fixing it? I really don't want to start my game over. :(

Comments

  • gigi21480gigi21480 Posts: 98 New Member
    edited April 2014
    Ohhh, boy, I'm sorry to be the one to answer this for you :( This is, sadly, an issue that's been occurring for quite some time. As much fun as the Free Vacation is when it works, when it doesn't the results are almost catastrophic. If you accept a Free Vacation and it doesn't work as it should, the only way to remedy any "side effects" is to exit the game without saving to return to the point before the Free Vacation offer. Like my first experience with this issue, I'm assuming you're past this point. If you do still have all family members playable (and consider yourself lucky for that!), you could try deleting the parent using the moveobjects on cheat and deleting her in buy mode. Sometimes that has alleviated issues with the boarding school glitch so it's possible it may help, but be prepared to exit without saving just in case it permanently deletes your parent. If this doesn't solve your issue and you REALLY want to send the child to university, you may have to start over :( Or if you use mods (and I don't, so I'm really not an expert here), I have heard there is a mod so that you can place a university in your town so your sim doesn't have to travel. Although I'm sure that's probably not what you were looking to do. I hope another simmer can post something better for you, but if not, good luck!
  • TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
    edited April 2014
    I've only done the free vacation offer once and the problem I had with that was minor. Now I never accept it.

    You could try moving the household to the bin and then back to the neighborhood. That seems to work to fix a lot of issues but I don't know if that will work with this. And I think doing so will probably make your sims lose all their relationships, so it's probably something to try as a last resort (and on a test save game in case it doesn't work).

    If you have NRaas MasterController you might try resetting the lot, or the whole town before trying so drastic as moving to the bin and back.
  • mlnov39mlnov39 Posts: 2,294 Member
    edited May 2014
    I never accept the free vacation, it glitches the game.
  • kati77kati77 Posts: 3,146 Member
    edited May 2014
    mlnov39 wrote:
    I never accept the free vacation, it glitches the game.

    Not always. Anyway, the free vacation is so short that if you make a backup copy you only lose a couple of simdays' progress if something goes wrong.

    I've tried it twice, and both times I did a "save as" as soon as the parents were leaving. I save every simnight anyway, so if something had gone wrong, I could've just started again from the morning of day the parents left.

    First time the teen party was a disaster, and the parents came back the same night, and scolded the kids, and since there was something weird about their opportunities, I decided to go back to my backup save. But now that I think of it, there wasn't really anything badly wrong with the game. I just got scared because I'd read about so many problems here.

    The second time everything worked just fine. And now the son of the family is married and the twin girls at uni. So, I could just happily delete the backup save I had.

    So, while there might be problems for some, it's nothing having a backup copy couldn't solve.
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  • MelanieSimlishMelanieSimlish Posts: 4,432 Member
    edited May 2014
    The last time I accepted the free vacation, my level 10 scientist came back unemployed. Now she has to work her way all the way back up to the top. Although, that is partially my fault, seeing as I stupidly deleted the save I had made before they left.

    But to prevent stuff like this happening in the future, I'd recommend doing Save As and creating a new file every single time you save, rather than just hitting Save and making the file bigger. It helps tremendously with issues like Error Code 12 (when the file is too big to save it), and when your game inevitably goes corrupt one way or another, you'll have backups.

    The way I do it is I count up with every save. For example, my current game is called Bernadette, so whenever I save I save it as Bernadette1/Bernadette2/Bernadette3/etc. I'm almost at Bernadette200 and I haven't had an issue with Error Code 12 at all. But, obviously, you don't want your main menu all crowded up with a million different copies of the same game, so when deleting old saves I'd recommend that you keep at least two or three versions of your family. It might be kind of annoying to remember to do at first, but it really is worth it to keep your precious Sim families safe.
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  • TheOracleOfQuanticoTheOracleOfQuantico Posts: 1 New Member
    edited January 2015
    I've found a fix for this through a long time of experimentation (and several death threats aimed at my computer) In a moment of desperation, I tried this, which I used a long time ago when another one of my games glitched.
    1. Go into Edit Town mode and save a copy of your family
    2. Place them in another house/a copy of their old house (I have not tested if you move them out with their home, but I don't see why it wouldn't work)
    3. Begin playing! They will retain everything they had, including degrees, skills, careers, etc. Unfortunately, they lose relationships with the rest of the town, which sucks, but that's repairable.
    It worked for me, but I haven't had a chance to test it on another computer. My computer is running Windows 7 (the most recent Windows I can stand using. Windows 8 is a nightmare), and I have some custom content from TheSimsResource, but nothing else that even resembles mods. Good luck to you
    -The Oracle Of Quantico
  • MikiMiki Posts: 1,692 Member
    Kinda reminds one of that "Free Vacation" you "win"-- IRL. as in "Yeah, Sure.."

    Oh, once in a while they're for real but most of the time? Well as they say "no such thing as a free lunch!"

    @ the oracle dude (too long a name to copy) Win 7 the latest you can stand? Ditto here. But take heart, it's why they're rolling out Windows 10 this summer-- or early Fall.

    "8" is officially a bust . In spite of it emulating Smartphones which many (but not everyone) is so adept at-- that finger-swiping interface simply didn't "click" with many.

    "10" is supposed to resemble "7" more than "8".

    (But don't quote me verbatim.. in my line of work I deal with commercial and corporate clients who just last year gave up XP for Win 7 "Enterprise"- For many it was a large and costly undertaking, so I don't expect to be dealing with Win 10 issues on a professional level for.. years to come. Best to look it up via official channels.)
  • JoeJoe11JoeJoe11 Posts: 1,406 Member
    It's such a shame.. it was always so fun to have the wild teen parties and get the notification that the parents' return was imminent.
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  • Lorna08Lorna08 Posts: 98 Member
    I love getting a break from "the parents" but it seems that free vacations do more harm than good. The kids always get in trouble which I guess makes it more "realistic" but I mean, does it really? They were away, how would they know what went down? :-p I don't think I'll be accepting more vacations. I'm having a glitch or problem myself right now so I can't even play. I posted it on the "technical problems" section.
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    Follow me on (S)imstagram @SimmerLorna
  • cleo00cleo00 Posts: 1,088 Member
    > @TheOracleOfQuantico said:
    > I've found a fix for this through a long time of experimentation (and several death threats aimed at my computer) In a moment of desperation, I tried this, which I used a long time ago when another one of my games glitched.
    > 1. Go into Edit Town mode and save a copy of your family
    > 2. Place them in another house/a copy of their old house (I have not tested if you move them out with their home, but I don't see why it wouldn't work)
    > 3. Begin playing! They will retain everything they had, including degrees, skills, careers, etc. Unfortunately, they lose relationships with the rest of the town, which sucks, but that's repairable.
    > It worked for me, but I haven't had a chance to test it on another computer. My computer is running Windows 7 (the most recent Windows I can stand using. Windows 8 is a nightmare), and I have some custom content from TheSimsResource, but nothing else that even resembles mods. Good luck to you
    > -The Oracle Of Quantico


    I second this - this is the only fix that ever worked for me. I really wish there wasn't such a glitch as a let's play I watched on youtube she never seems to get the glitch and she accepts the free vacation every time and the teen parties are so awesome...I mean I suppose you could throw a party and invite only teenagers and just make the parents go to the park or something but it doesn't have the same thrill. I always get the glitch and thus never accept them anymore.
  • efaspaceefaspace Posts: 85 Member
    I know this has already been resolved but out of curiosity would doing resetSim and the names of the sims work for this glitch?
  • Dizzi00Dizzi00 Posts: 1 New Member
    So I saw this thread and made an account just to reply because I just had this problem the other day and looking for a solution I found this thread. I played around on the game a bit and found a better solution that doesn't involve losing anything INCLUDING relationships that I wanted to share..

    So at first I tried to make the mother move out by first switching active households and having a friend invite her to move in with them (as she was a single parent when she took the vacation). I figured if I moved her out and back in the game would realize WAIT she is back from vacation! That didnt work. The game kept freezing every time she tried to move out. So since I couldn't move her out organically I went into edit town and split the house. I removed her from the house and placed her in a random neighbors house. I found that in the neighbors house the people she lived with had the option to go to University.

    I then went back to my original house and tried to send her daughter to University. Still said the adults were on vacation and the option was grayed out! Seemed like the glitch was connected to the lot rather than the Sim. So I split the mother from the other house, put her back in the original house then using edit town moved the daughter onto another lot.

    Lo and behold the enroll in university option was there for her! Yay! I had her enroll and she now has a degree in communications. When she got back from Uni and I moved her back into the original lot using Edit town the option was still there and everything was un-glitched as far as that is concerned and everyone in the house had the option to go to Uni if they wanted.

    I know this is 2 years too late for the OP but hope this helps someone.
  • GeniusInDisguiseGeniusInDisguise Posts: 1 New Member
    I just had this glitch in my game and I found a fantastic solution!

    Step 1: Save and go to edit town (save just in case)
    Step 2: Select the problematic household and click evict with home. Your household should currently be on the clipboard.
    Step 3: Select the bulldozer icon and use it on your home lot (which is currently vacant) to wipe it clean and reset it as an empty lot.
    Step 4: Place your household from the clipboard onto the empty lot.
    Step 5: Select the lot and click switch active household
    Step 6: Return to game

    The only thing that was reset for me using this method was promised wishes. They still had all their relationships, inventory, skills, needs, age and lifetime happiness rewards. And the adults are no longer "on vacation" :smile:

    Hopefully this post will help someone
  • AluvAluv Posts: 2 New Member
    Just experienced this glitch. Accepted a free vacation for the first time and all the adults left and never returned! Had to edit the town evict the household then place them back to get my sims to come home!
  • Picard643Picard643 Posts: 14 New Member
    So glad you all made your comments - though I am still having an issue. I also had three adults leave and not return (one's icon went green as if he has returned, but he's nowhere to be seen). Am also now finding a "bed glitch" - sims go to bed, sleep for about 5 seconds (on triple speed) then "pop" out of bed.
    Tried the evict, bulldoze, put back technique but am now stuck in the lot after clicking "accept change" - it's not doing anything... going to hope End Process doesn't kill the game completely...
  • Picard643Picard643 Posts: 14 New Member
    responding to my own post (sorry if that's not the "done thing") - ok ending the game seems to have fixed the bed issue - at least for the moment - but the trade off is DAD IS GONE. Hmm. Not the greatest outcome. I'm a little sad - though not as sad as the Mum will be if I can ever get her back - she is still on vacation with the oldest (young adult) daughter. This could get interesting. I will try evict one more time - more carefully this time - and if still on vacation will just play that way. Will be interesting to see if the family can survive on the part time jobs of the two teen sisters (with two child brothers and a baby sister to take care of).
  • UziUzi Posts: 61 Member
    One time I accepted the free vacation and the parents never returned. I waited so many Sim days and I had just spent so much time making a 3 floor house, I couldn't save and quit because there was a "move" in progress. That's when I learned you should save more often.
    Sucker4Pain
  • Khaos6661Khaos6661 Posts: 1 New Member
    I sat here and read every comment to try and fix this glitch but I guess it's too late :( Stupid glitches >.> first time this has ever happened with the free vacation offer
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    There unfortunately is just one solution for the Free Vacation glitch: say no to it. Can't understand why they just didn't patch the opportunity out at one point, when it became clear it was useless and only would bork player's saves.
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  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    The way to work with it is to have a backup save handy from before accepting the offer to revert play to so that if/when something goes wrong, the entire game isn't lost. Just the progress since the vacation started. I never accept them either, though. Even if there weren't as much risk to ruining an ongoing game, from what I understand the benefits aren't all that great. I let my teens throw regular house parties and send the adults out to dinner, a movie, and then they just kind of sneak upstairs to to the bedroom to sleep or watch TV (or other things) if the party is still going on when they get back home. :)
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  • LadyHarmony93LadyHarmony93 Posts: 1 New Member
    > @GeniusInDisguise said:
    > I just had this glitch in my game and I found a fantastic solution!
    >
    > Step 1: Save and go to edit town (save just in case)
    > Step 2: Select the problematic household and click evict with home. Your household should currently be on the clipboard.
    > Step 3: Select the bulldozer icon and use it on your home lot (which is currently vacant) to wipe it clean and reset it as an empty lot.
    > Step 4: Place your household from the clipboard onto the empty lot.
    > Step 5: Select the lot and click switch active household
    > Step 6: Return to game
    >
    > The only thing that was reset for me using this method was promised wishes. They still had all their relationships, inventory, skills, needs, age and lifetime happiness rewards. And the adults are no longer "on vacation" :smile:
    >
    > Hopefully this post will help someone

    ---

    Thank you SOOOO much! This did precisely the trick to fix my corrupted lot and enable traveling again for the parents of my Sims family! It's ridiculous how many bugs/glitches/screw-ups the vanilla base game of Sims 3 has before any mods come into play.
  • TadOlsonTadOlson Posts: 11,380 Member
    I had a free vacation for my couple in Deery Meadows and they only went to city hall for a few nights so they could visit the festival one day and went back home after a few days.I had to play the the whole time they were on their vacation.I was testing out an idea for non-glitchy free vacations by using a Mod to stop the opportunity ones and would just send them to stay over at a local community lot in town for a few days.
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  • Awesome_QuinnAwesome_Quinn Posts: 1 New Member
    > @GeniusInDisguise said:
    > I just had this glitch in my game and I found a fantastic solution!
    >
    > Step 1: Save and go to edit town (save just in case)
    > Step 2: Select the problematic household and click evict with home. Your household should currently be on the clipboard.
    > Step 3: Select the bulldozer icon and use it on your home lot (which is currently vacant) to wipe it clean and reset it as an empty lot.
    > Step 4: Place your household from the clipboard onto the empty lot.
    > Step 5: Select the lot and click switch active household
    > Step 6: Return to game
    >
    > The only thing that was reset for me using this method was promised wishes. They still had all their relationships, inventory, skills, needs, age and lifetime happiness rewards. And the adults are no longer "on vacation" :smile:
    >
    > Hopefully this post will help someone

    Yes this did help. I accepted one, and didn't even realize it had glitched out. Everything went smoothly and they returned, and became playable. They acted normal and everything. Then, I clicked a computer as one, and the Uni and WA Travel options were grayed out. Hovering over them gave the message "The adults are still on vacation!"
    This fixed it easily.
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